| 1969 American Football League season | |
|---|---|
| Regular season | September 14, 1969 - December 14, 1969 |
| Champions | |
| All-Star game | |
The 1969 American Football League season was the tenth regular season of the American Football League, and the last one before the AFL-NFL Merger. To honor the AFL's 10th season, a special anniversary logo was designed and each Kansas City Chiefs player wore a patch on his jersey with the logo during Super Bowl IV, the final AFL-NFL World Championship Game prior to the merger of the two leagues.
The season ended when the Chiefs defeated the Oakland Raiders in the final AFL Championship Game, then went on to defeat the National Football League's Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.
Division Races[]
In its final year of existence, the AFL had ten teams, grouped into two divisions. Each team would play a home-and-away game against the other four teams in its division, a home-and-away series against one of the five teams in opposite division, and one game each against the remaining four teams from the opposite division. Interestingly, using that format, the defending World Champion New York Jets went 10-0 against the five teams they played twice (i.e., their four weak divisional rivals plus last-place second-year Cincinnati) while going 0-4 against the top four teams in the West.
For the 1969 season, a provision was made for a four team playoff to determine the AFL representative in the Super Bowl, with the #1 team in the division to play against the #2 team in the opposite division. The NFL also had a four team playoff, matching the winners of the Capitol and Century divisions, and the Coastal and Central divisions.
The 1970 merger would place the 10 AFL teams (along with 3 teams from the pre-1970 NFL) into the AFC. (The other NFL teams would go into the NFC.)
| Week | EASTERN #1 | Eastern #2 | WESTERN #1 | Western #2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | N.Y. JETS | 1-0-0 | Hou, Bos, Buf, Mia | 0-1-0 | Oak, KC, Den, Cin | 1-0-0 | Oak, KC, Den, Cin | 1-0-0 |
| 2 | Hou, NY | 1-1-0 | Hou, NY | 1-1-0 | Oak, KC, Den, Cin | 2-0-0 | Oak, KC, Den, Cin | 2-0-0 |
| 3 | HOUSTON | 2-1-0 | NY, Buf | 1-2-0 | Oak, Cin | 3-0-0 | Oak, Cin | 3-0-0 |
| 4 | HOUSTON | 3-1-0 | N.Y. Jets | 2-2-0 | OAKLAND | 3-0-1 | Kansas City | 3-1-0 |
| 5 | NY, Hou | 3-2-0 | NY, Hou | 3-2-0 | OAKLAND | 4-0-1 | Kansas City | 4-1-0 |
| 6 | N.Y. JETS | 4-2-0 | Houston | 3-3-0 | OAKLAND | 5-0-1 | Kansas City | 5-1-0 |
| 7 | N.Y. JETS | 5-2-0 | Houston | 4-3-0 | OAKLAND | 6-0-1 | Kansas City | 6-1-0 |
| 8 | N.Y. JETS | 6-2-0 | Houston | 4-4-0 | KANSAS CITY | 7-1-0 | Oakland | 6-1-1 |
| 9 | N.Y. JETS | 7-2-0 | Houston | 4-4-1 | KANSAS CITY | 8-1-0 | Oakland | 7-1-1 |
| 10 | N.Y. JETS | 7-3-0 | Houston | 4-4-2 | KANSAS CITY | 9-1-0 | Oakland | 8-1-1 |
| 11 | N.Y. JETS | 8-3-0 | Houston | 5-4-2 | OAKLAND | 9-1-1 | Kansas City | 9-2-0 |
| 12 | N.Y. JETS | 8-4-0 | Houston | 5-5-2 | OAKLAND | 10-1-1 | Kansas City | 10-2-0 |
| 13 | N.Y. JETS | 9-4-0 | Houston | 5-6-2 | OAKLAND | 11-1-1 | Kansas City | 11-2-0 |
| 14 | N.Y. JETS | 10-4-0 | Houston | 6-6-2 | OAKLAND | 12-1-1 | Kansas City | 11-3-0 |
Standings [1][]
For its tenth and final season before merging with the NFL, the AFL instituted a four team playoff tournament with the second place teams in each division also participating.
| Eastern Division | ||||||
| Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *New York Jets | 10 | 4 | 0 | .714 | 353 | 269 |
| Houston Oilers | 6 | 6 | 2 | .500 | 278 | 279 |
| Boston Patriots | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 266 | 316 |
| Buffalo Bills | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 230 | 359 |
| Miami Dolphins | 3 | 10 | 1 | .231 | 233 | 332 |
| Western Division | ||||||
| Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *Oakland Raiders | 12 | 1 | 1 | .923 | 377 | 242 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 11 | 3 | 0 | .786 | 359 | 177 |
| San Diego Chargers | 8 | 6 | 0 | .571 | 288 | 276 |
| Denver Broncos | 5 | 8 | 1 | .385 | 297 | 344 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 4 | 9 | 1 | .308 | 280 | 367 |
* — Team won division.
Italics mean team qualified for the playoffs.
Playoffs[]
| Divisional Playoff Games | AFL Championship Game | ||||||
| December 20, 1969 - Shea Stadium | |||||||
| Kansas City Chiefs | 13 | ||||||
| New York Jets | 6 | ||||||
| January 4, 1970 - Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum | |||||||
| Kansas City Chiefs | 17 | ||||||
| Oakland Raiders | 7 | ||||||
| December 21, 1969 - Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum | |||||||
| Houston Oilers | 7 | ||||||
| Oakland Raiders | 56 | ||||||
1969 Championship[]
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chiefs | 0 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 17 |
| Raiders | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
Kansas City Chiefs 17, Oakland Raiders 7
- January 4, 1970 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California
Scoring
- OAK - Smith 3 run (Blanda kick)
- KC - Hayes 1 run (Stenerud kick)
- KC - Holmes 5 run (Stenerud kick)
- KC - Field goal Stenerud 22
External links[]
| |||||
1969 AFL season
| |
|---|---|
| Eastern Division | Western Division |
| Boston | Cincinnati |
| Buffalo | Denver |
| Houston | Kansas City |
| Miami | Oakland |
| New York Jets | San Diego |
| 1969 AFL Draft • AFL Playoffs • All-Star game • Super Bowl IV Related: 1969 NFL Season | |